GMHS celebrates shelter’s first anniversary

Approximately 300 people turned out Saturday as the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of its new shelter.

The Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society celebrated the first year of the opening of its new shelter Saturday. Here, executive director Ellen Thacker spoke outside the new intake lobby that was dedicated Saturday in memory and honor of local veterinarian Cindy Rhodes. Seated, from left, are Dieter Hoinkes, president of the society’s board of directors; Henry Spalding, friend of Cindy Rhodes; Warner Rhodes, Rhodes’s widower; Deborah Taylor, friend of Cindy Rhodes; Ben and Chris Rhodes, sons of Cindy Rhodes.

The event, held at the shelter on Jackson Lane off Sutton Road near the Gloucester village, also included the formal dedication of the shelter’s intake lobby in memory and honor of the late Cindy Rhodes, a Gloucester veterinarian who was active in the shelter and the community.

In a surprise announcement during the dedication ceremony, Cam Williams, co-chairman of the society’s Capital Campaign Committee (with Peggy Bowditch), said that five anonymous donor families recently stepped forward to each pledge $10,000 to help pay off the remaining debt on the shelter. That $50,000, if matched by $50,000 from the public, will substantially reduce the remaining $170,000 debt on the new shelter, Williams said.

But in order for the society to benefit to the max from the matching funds, Williams said, an equal amount of contributions must be received by the end of 2010.